Even the best are 'unprofitable servants' – and this is a source of joy
We have an unpayable debt to God, as he made us and holds us in existence.
We have an unpayable debt to God, as he made us and holds us in existence.
Editor’s Notes
In this part, Fr Coleridge tells us…
How Christ teaches us to serve without claim, as those who belong wholly to God
That we are “unprofitable servants” – in that we can never render more than what we already owe to God
Why humility is the only safe foundation for high gifts or great labours
Coleridge shows us that true greatness lies in knowing we are nothing, and yet never ceasing to serve.
For more context on the events discussed in this mini-series, see Part 0.
Various Teachings and Counsels
The Preaching of the Cross, Vol. III
Chapter I
St Luke xvii. 1–19
Story of the Gospels, § 117, 118
Burns and Oates, London, 1888
Headings and some line breaks added.
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Why scandals are inevitable – and the disastrous consequences which follow
The best of us are still 'unprofitable servants' – and this is a source of joy
‘Unprofitable servants’
‘But which of you, having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, will say to him, when he is come from the field, Immediately go, sit down to meat, and will not rather say to him, Make ready my supper, and gird thyself, and serve me, whilst I eat and drink, and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink?
‘Doth he thank that servant for doing the things which he commanded him? I think not.
‘So you also, when you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which we ought to do.’
This last instruction is not at first sight easy of explanation.
Our Lord seems to urge on us the wisdom of keeping always before us the principle that we belong to God as His creatures, that we have nothing of our own, no rights but what He gives us, no independence of Him, no claim on Him for anything which we do as if we had made a bargain with Him, that consequently our service to Him is not limited, as of right, to this or that work, or to this or that time.
When that service has reached a certain point, we do not belong to ourselves any more than before, and have no more rights as regards Him than we had before. A servant who is such by virtue of an agreement or bargain, may refuse some kind of service as not being within that agreement. He may draw back when his stipulated hours are passed, and he may claim as of justice the payments which have been agreed upon, or the rest he requires.
There is to be nothing of this sort in our own view of our relations to God. A man who stands in that kind of relation to an employer whom he calls his master, has ideas and notions and feelings concerning him which are in harmony with the facts of the situation. It is the character of the master, and of the relations between them, which regulates his thoughts and his whole conduct.
So if we have right thoughts and ideas concerning God and our relations to Him, we shall be able to act towards Him as we ought, and the higher and the more intelligent and adequate are our conceptions of Him, by so much will our conduct towards Him approach the right standard. But when we understand God’s character and rights, there will be no more low ideas of our duties towards Him.
Ownership of God
We belong to Him absolutely by a right of ownership on His part, and of dependence on our own, which has no parallel in the relations of creatures one to another.
For God has created us out of nothing. This gives Him rights over us which belong to no earthly parentage, which can be but an imperfect shadow of His Fatherhood. He preserves and supports our being by Himself, — and by His creatures, in a degree which makes us far more His than our own. Every moment of our lives we incur to Him the obligation of a fresh creation, or gift of being. Then He has made us His at the cost of the whole great work of the Incarnation and Redemption, a work on the fruits of which we live every hour as much as, in our bodily existence, we are perpetually living on the results and issues of creation.
This ownership of His over us is personal and most intimate, not general and remote, and when we come to think or speak of doing Him service or duty, we have nothing to give Him or nothing to use or sacrifice in His service which is not His own. We might cease our service of Him, as the labourer ceases when the allotted task of the day is over, if at any hour or moment we could cease from receiving from Him by a fresh gift, all that we are and all that we can do and all that we have.
But even then we should be wanting in the duty of gratitude. If at any moment we could cease to belong to Him, that might seem a most precious moment to us, because we could then give Him something which was our own to give, a service which was not due of right, and therefore a service in which our free love could be shown.
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